Tax cuts do not foster charity

Here's an interesting blurb I found on the Mother Jone's blog.

Do tax cuts encourage charitable giving? No

Conservatives have often argued that we don't need high taxes and government programs to care for the poor. After all, they say, without a welfare state, wealthy people would just give freely to charity, which works just as well for taking care of the needy. (See, for instance, Edwin Feulner's argument here.) Is that right?

Maybe not. A quirky new study by the Congressional Budget Office shows that a repeal of the estate tax would reduce charitable giving by up to $25 billion over the next few years. As things currently stand, the estate tax entices the wealthy to pony up to charity, so as to reduce their tax burden upon death. But what the CBO found was that this system really has a massive effect on giving. Seems like some people still need a little, ahem, persuading before they dig deep and donate.